Fabin lawncare

Durdy the weed eater 
This adorable bundle of cozy fuzz joined our household early this summer.
He is most definitely blog worthy. 
Enjoy...

Happy Saturday! I hope your weekend is full of cheer and love.

A diet 'do'

'Diet', 'fat-free' and 'low-cal' aren't labels that excite me while I'm browsing through the grocery store. I don't like to cheat my taste buds. Don't get me wrong, I love to eat healthy, but when I indulge, I say, 'go big, or go home'. Seriously. Life's too short to go without salt butter on your popcorn. However, I do have one exception: If something 'diet' tastes like the real thing, I'm in. Which brings me to these light little treats.

I'm not a big baker (I want to be), but my sweet tooth was hankering for lemon pastries the other day. Instead of settling for a quick, store-bought solution, I decided to bake! While boxed cake mix doesn't qualify as 'from-scratch' baking, I was intrigued by the soda pop in this recipe. Anyway, I figured this baking beginner has to start somewhere...

Diet soda pop cupcakes

*Lemon cake mix & lemon-lime pop*

Cake
-1 box cake mix
-1 1/2 cups diet soda pop (1 can)
-2 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients in a large bowl and pour batter into lined cupcake pan. Bake for 18-23 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

-8 ounces low-fat cream cheese, softened

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 cup marshmallow creme

-1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

-1 cup powdered sugar

-Sprinkles and food coloring (for cuteness)

Whisk together cream cheese, vanilla, marshmallow creme and juice. Once combined, slowly mix in powdered sugar. After cupcakes cool, top with frosting, and decorate.

I'm hooked. What other flavor combos would work in this?

I'm thinking...
-Diet root beer & vanilla cake
-Diet Cherry Coke & chocolate cake
-Diet orange soda & yellow cake
-Diet Ginger ale & carrot cake
-Diet Coke & dark chocolate cake
-Diet cherry soda & funfetti 'rainbow chip' cake
-Diet cream soda & strawberry cake
-Diet Dr. Pepper & chocolate cake
-Diet Fresca & angel food cake

Oh, the possibilities...
Any other ideas?

Poolside doodles

Unless you've been cave dwelling this summer, you know it's hot. HOT hot. I live for the season's sunshine, but this sticky, thick heat is too much. It's unbearable. The two window ac units in our old farmhouse don't seem to be doing much these days (not that I expect them to in this weather).

We haven't needed to mow our crispy, brown lawn in about four weeks, and most of my pot-restricted flowers are sad and clinging to life. It's bad. Our family is desperate for relief, including the dogs. So, Saturday morning, hot and annoyed, I set out to find us some 'chillaxing' fun. Perhaps the Fabins need a swimming pool!?! Yes.

My big dreams of floating in cool, chlorinated water were crushed when I realized the only pool I could afford was this 6 ft. round snapset contraption. Then, my panting pooches came to mind: Doodle pool!!! I hurried home, unwrapped my purchase, filled it up with water, and created a back-yard doggy oasis.

They loved my surprise, especially Callie. She is obsessed with everything/anything water... ponds, rain, puddles, baths. I knew she'd love this. They had the best time together... romping, splashing and chasing (note the caved-in, droopy pool sides). Adorable. I love my cool, happy pups.



In



Around



Out (repeat)



A girl after my own heart.

Wherever you are, I hope you're staying cool, too!

Bean or Bust

This morning Chris' mom surprised me with a bushel basket of beautiful, fresh green beans from her garden. We don't grow our own vegetables (yet), but occasionally we reap the benefits of all the green thumbs around us: A crown of broccoli here, a head of lettuce there... not a bad deal. While I love these scrumptious garden gifts, the huge amount of these things have me troubled. I'm up to my eyeballs in green beans, and can't let them go to waste. Help! So, I 'Googled it' (my answer to many a dilemma) and found this recipe. D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s.

Roasted Green Beans with Dill Vinaigrette

Ingredients
-2 pounds fresh, trimmed green beans
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon dried dill
-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
-1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
-1 teaspoon white sugar
-1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions
-Preheat oven to 450 degrees
-Combine beans in a casserole dish with salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil, and toss to coat
-Roast for 20-25 minutes
-Whisk together vinegar, mustard, sugar, dill, pepper and the remaining oil in a small bowl
-Drizzle dressing over green beans, toss to coat, and serve 

I bet you can guess what I had for lunch today!
While this recipe left my stomach full, the basket is also still full. So many beans, so little time... Any ideas?

A corny post

Corn. Corn. Corn. I see corn... seas of corn. Everywhere. Every day.

I was outside throwing frisbee for the dogs last week. Callie is great at fetch. She retrieves balls, frisbees, sticks, squeaky toys, bones (etc.) EVERY time we play. On the other hand, Rocco is a work in progress. He's more of the 'chase-and-leave-it-there' types... ugh. Annoying. So when my impeccable frisbee skills landed their drooly red disc in the cornfield behind the house, I had to go in and find it. Awesome. As I hunted through the sea of green, I noticed something: This corn stuff is actually kind of beautiful. The (almost) sunset made the leaves really vibrant and glowy. Pretty cool. So, I took a few shots to share with you...

The Fabin farmers plant about 1,500 acres of field corn in April/May, and harvest in October/November. This isn't the delicious, sweet corn you eat at picnics; it's used to produce livestock feed, dog food, ethanol, etc.

My summertime haiku

Sun*kissed & barefoot

S.t.e.a.d.y PULSE of play & heat

Summertime is love